https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sun, 03 May 2026 06:03:31 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1432399 Tue, 27 Jan 2015 08:57:13 +0000 shipskitty 1432399@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks Ladies, it is nice to have a safe place to share something which is interesting to me but&nbsp;my DH is really just not interested in LOL!</p> <p>Rachylou - Yes I really did crawl around the floor. I was working for a tech start up and they didn't have proper cable and power outlet setups or work benches that were&nbsp;easy to access so you had to crawl to the back with a torch to plug and unplug the different cables. Some of the equipment we worked on was also large and the motherboards were located at inside at the back. No graceful way to access them unfortunately except to practically crawl inside.</p> <p>Alasse - I haven't tried heeled oxfords but that is a good idea. I might look into that as it would be a different look with my dresses especially.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431695 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 08:37:46 +0000 Deborah 1431695@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Skipskitty, thank for sharing this. &nbsp;I really enjoyed your journey to date. &nbsp;Gryffin recently shared with me that she wears a blazer/jacket to do her grocery shopping so you are not alone &nbsp;I think we all have things that make us feel good and put together and if statement necklaces are one of yours, then you should just go with it. &nbsp;One of mine is earrings:) &nbsp;I put earrings on even if I am home all day, seeing no-one :)</p> <p>I am looking forward to journeying with you, in this, the next stage of your style journey.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431635 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 03:33:26 +0000 rachylou 1431635@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>That's really interesting, shipskitty. But did you really crawl around on the floor in black pants? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431631 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 03:24:45 +0000 Alassë 1431631@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Regarding oxfords, have you tried heeled oxfords? With tights, I find them non-stumpifying and wear them with skirts/dresses/trousers (and I skew very feminine). It's also a retro look, imo (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fashionima.com/war-fashion-of-1940s.html/1940s-fashion-shoes">http://www.fashionima.com/war-.....hion-shoes</a>&nbsp;far left shoes being worn). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431606 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 02:34:34 +0000 abc 1431606@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Wow. I feel like I could have written about 95% of your post. I'm digesting my own emotions and effect on my dressing as well. There's some half cheesy quote but I like it - it's not the destination, it's the journey. I feel like we will always be changing but if we listen to our emotions and bodies we can hopefully make more sense of what's going on. I know I am not there yet but I'm doing better. Sounds like you're kind of in the same boat. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431557 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:56:39 +0000 Angie 1431557@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>(Practicality is in the eye of the beholder, and can be overrated).&nbsp;</p> <p>Shipskitty, thanks for sharing your style epiphany. We have to be more in tune with our emotions if we want to create an effective style that makes our heart sing.&nbsp;&nbsp;Listening to how we FEEL in an outfit is so very important, and you did just that. xo </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431548 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:40:29 +0000 Dimity 1431548@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Suz, I'm loving what you said about our clothes knowing us better that we do. It seems so true that there are many unspoken, intuitive things said with clothes that express thoughts that we can't yet articulate. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431547 Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:35:31 +0000 Suz 1431547@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I thoroughly enjoyed it, too, Shipskitty. This is what YLF is for. It's a safe place for us to come to these recognitions and then move our style forward from a more considered place. It sounds as if you have come to some important understandings and I can't wait to see where you go next. </p> <p>I certainly agree that you wear a dress and a statement necklace with the best of them. But isn't it odd how it can sometimes take us a while to "catch up" to the people we have become? Sometimes maybe our clothes know us better than we know ourselves.... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431520 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:41:05 +0000 Caro in Oz 1431520@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Not only did I read it I really enjoyed it :)&nbsp;I love that we can find ways to learn&nbsp;about ourselves through our clothing choices &amp; what feels right to us at any given time &amp; through all parts of our lives.&nbsp;It will be interesting to see where you go from here.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431518 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:39:18 +0000 anne 1431518@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I liked reading this too! I also tend to bat for structured/fitted. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431512 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:32:56 +0000 trekkiegirl 1431512@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I very much enjoyed reading about your style journey https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431511 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:32:21 +0000 Dimity 1431511@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>It's great to look back and see an evolution. Style should change over time. And it's funny how we have an image of ourselves that isn't quite the same as reality. I have found this in me at times too.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/reflections-on-my-evolving-style-long#post-1431508 Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:27:23 +0000 shipskitty 1431508@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Funny how our minds work. I've always thought of myself as an eminently practical person and for years basically&nbsp;ignored fashion as a frivolous pursuit while I got on with my 'important' practical engineering type stuff. I expect it was part of growing up as tomboy with my very practically oriented&nbsp;parents. I spent my time&nbsp;mostly the company of boys and then later was competing with them at university in engineering where girls were in the minority and to be respected I always felt you had to meet the guys on their own ground.&nbsp;</p> <p>That carried over into my career where again I was mostly working with men and felt I needed to meet them where they were, merge into the scene as one of them,&nbsp;and dazzle them with my work not my outfits. Plus initially I was crawling around on the floor a lot fixing cables and doing the dirty work. Pants were more practical. My work uniform was black pants, solid colour top and loafers with the odd black blazer or cardi. When I found pants I liked I would buy 3 or 4 pairs. When I found a top I liked I would buy every colour that wasn't hideous on me. I usually only had one pair of work shoes.</p> <p>Somewhere in my late 20's /&nbsp;early 30's I discovered an unexpected love for&nbsp;statement necklaces and this became part of my look. My roles were more senior and a couple of&nbsp;plain black suits and low heeled black pumps&nbsp;became part of the mix. Sometimes I wore pants that, 'gasp',&nbsp;weren't black (I think they were chocolate brown with a slight pinstripe)&nbsp;and felt remarkably adventurous.</p> <p>Then I had my DS at the age of 37 just as the company I was working for was in the process of being bought out&nbsp;and found my career stalling. Partly because they weren't geared up for managing their larger distributed organisation. Partly because I was less visible (out of sight out of mind). Partly because I was out on Maternity leave for a year when they were getting to know the local people's work and then came back initially part time, which wasn't the embodiment of the consultant maxing out all available billable hours they held as their vision of the 'perfect' employee.</p> <p>I was also profoundly uncomfortable with this new motherhood role because it didn't fit with my career-focused vision of myself. I found myself, for the first time, feeling constricted by my chosen uniform of pants and tops and chunky shoes. I found myself&nbsp;wanting to express my femininity. My professional&nbsp;reputation was established and a damn good one. I'd had a baby. I'd been on maternity leave.&nbsp;Clearly I was not a man and no-one was going to overlook that from here.&nbsp;</p> <p>I can see an evolution. My initial work capsules had a mix of suits, pants, skirts and blouses and a couple of cardis that could be mixed and matched. Somewhere along the line in the last 2 years&nbsp;I found a dress that worked with one of the jackets&nbsp;and that was key&nbsp;moment for me. Dresses, particularly fitted dresses&nbsp;just felt so 'easy' for me. Dress, statement necklace, shoes, and cardi or jacket. A new work uniform was born. Several YLFers have noted that it is quite a dressy look. Which interestingly I hadn't really stood back to register.</p> <p>But for some reason I have still been carrying this vision of myself as the 'world's most practical' MOTG in my head. And this is at odds with the outfits I feel inclined to wear. I feel 'undressed' if I go out shopping for groceries&nbsp;without a necklace on... So weird as it sounds I have just had an epiphany that I am NOT the world's most practical person when it comes to clothes. In fact I bat firmly for Team Dressy and Team Structured/FItted&nbsp;and also lean to&nbsp;the feminine side of that. I like the idea of Oxfords but despite everyone's input as to how to wear them. I can't wrap my head around them as part of my look.&nbsp;</p> <p>LOL! Just looked up at the whole post and&nbsp;I wrote a novel. If any of you stayed with me through all of that then you definitely deserve some kind of award... xx</p>